


Meet Cute

by LynnLarsh



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Also Ryuu makes things infinitely better and occasionally worse for both parties, Asahi being a fragile dork, Awkward First Times, Awkward Flirting, Basically two college boys being awkward and learning more about themselves and each other, M/M, Mild Language, Noya being as loud and juxtaposing as always, Orientational self discovery... kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:55:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynnLarsh/pseuds/LynnLarsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>meet cute</b>
</p><p>
  <i>noun</i>
</p><p>A fictional scene, typically in film or television, in which a future romantic couple meets for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, entertaining, or amusing. The term has existed since at least the early 1940s.</p><p>AKA: An Asanoya college AU where Noya nearly gives Asahi a concussion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet Cute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kali_asleep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kali_asleep/gifts).



> This fic is based off of what very nearly became a personal experience of mine. Thankfully, my phone stayed on the second floor with me instead of dropping onto the head of an innocent cafe goer. Or, perhaps regretfully? Maybe I could have met my Asahi that day if it hadn't.

“Oi, Ryuu,” Noya groans, leaning heavily back into the couch. Part of him wishes the cushions would suck him in further and further until he’s swallowed up, taken somewhere that isn’t the campus library to do something that isn’t studying. Like literally anything else. “How much more before we get to take a break?”

Ryuu’s got his forehead pressed firmly against the small table separating their couch from the railing of the library’s second floor balcony. Ryuu always makes fun of Noya for choosing these seats, claiming it’s because he likes being taller then the students at the café below. Noya has yet to admit to or deny said claim.

“We took a break five minutes ago,” Ryuu mumbles into the wood, the words slightly muffled. He turns his head, his cheek smooshing into the tabletop and making his next words sound a little slurred. “So… Now?”

“Now,” Noya crosses his arms over his chest and nods, a stern and serious jerk of his head. Then he’s grinning broadly at his friend and stretching his arms into the air with a sigh. “I’m hungry anyway.”

“You’re always hungry,” Ryuu jests, finally sitting back up. Noya just shrugs and places his computer onto the couch at his side.

“Math makes me _especially_ hungry.”

Ryuu chuckles. “Fair enough.”

“So what do you say, then?” Noya continues on, nearly jumping to his feet. “The café or-”

Something slides out of Noya’s lap at the sudden movement, skidding across the floor and under the small space beneath the balcony railing. A half second later, there’s a thud, a clatter, and a multitude of gasps and murmurs. Noya and Ryuu look at each other, wide eyed.

“Shit,” Noya whispers.

“What was-?” Ryuu starts to say, but Noya is already running towards the stairs.

“My phone!” He calls over his shoulder at him. He’d forgotten his phone was in his lap, and now it’s just fallen a good fifteen feet onto the tile floor below. He just _bought_ that phone too… It’s probably shattered into a million pieces. He’ll never play Puzzle Dragons aga-

He spots his phone not far from one of the stools lining the café bar, and as he rushes towards it, the miracle becomes clear. A burst of relief fills his chest.

“Ryuu!” He calls out, swiping his phone off the floor and holding it over his head for Ryuu to see. “Ryuu, guess what? There’s not a scratch on it!” The look on Ryuu’s face doesn’t quite match Noya’s level of enthusiasm, though, so Noya waves it at him for emphasis. “Oi! It fell like a hundred feet and isn’t broken!” He tries a different approach. “Be a little happier for me, will you?”

Now, Ryuu’s face looks almost embarrassed, his arm waving too, but in a different direction, finger pointing a bit to Noya’s right.

“Jeez,” Noya huffs, crossing his arms over his chest again and glaring up in Ryuu’s direction. “Some friend you-”

“Nishinoya!” Ryuu barks, and the tone of his voice is one Noya is unfortunately familiar with. It’s the one that says he’s overdone it again and forgotten something, the one that says he’s being obtuse. But more than anything, it’s the one that says Noya’s probably going to have to apologize to someone. 

Finally, Noya follows Ryuu’s gesturing, looking to his right and slightly up.

A student is staring down at him from his spot on one of the café stools, eyes wide and lips parted. Not too unusual. Noya has a tendency to be loud and overly energetic; he’s used to grabbing people’s attention. What is unusual, however, is the way lines of red drip down the side of the boy’s face, a section of his brown hair darkened from hairline to the loose bun he’s got cinched at the back of his head. Even his white headband is slightly stained in splotches of crimson on the left side.

Noya glances from the student to his phone, then back up at Ryuu and the railing and-

“Oh shit,” Noya chokes, his gaze falling slowly, slowly back onto the stunned face of his victim. “Oh shit, oh shit…” he says again, mostly because he doesn’t know what else to say. Sorry for dropping my phone on you from a thousand feet? Sorry for causing you a probably fatal head wound and major concussion and oh god… He’ll have to pay for this guy’s funeral and- “You’re bleeding…” are the words that claw up Noya’s throat and escape his mouth first.

The student blinks, reaching up towards his forehead with a look on his face like he isn’t quite sure where he is, let alone the sort of danger he’s in.

“Don’t touch it!” Noya barks, and the guy startles, his hand pausing an inch from his head. “Here, I’ll just-” Noya practically throws himself half over the café counter and snags a handful of napkins from behind it, knocking over a stack of utensils in the process. When he leans back over, the barista is glaring at him. He wouldn’t be surprised if the whole café was giving him dirty looks, but he can’t just leave this guy here to die. “I’m so sorry,” Noya blurts out as he starts trying to wipe some of the blood from the guy’s face. “I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t-”

“No,” the guy starts, voice deep if not a bit shaky, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering his size. Noya stops the motion of his hand, the napkin already soaked through with blood. Man, head wounds bleed a lot. Are they supposed to bleed that much? “No it’s… It’s my fault,” the guy continues, and Noya’s brain short circuits a bit. 

“Your fault,” Noya repeats, because surely he’d heard him wrong. How was Noya dropping his phone on him from a million feet up _his_ fault?

“I was sitting right underneath your phone,” the guy mumbles, grabbing some of the napkins from Noya’s hand and holding them to his temple, wincing a little as he puts pressure against it. Noya takes a step back, and another, unable to school his features into something less flabbergasted. But this guy… _This guy_.

Before he can stop himself, Noya is laughing. And not just chuckling softly to himself, but full bellied, nearly bent over laughter. It must look horrible. One student drops his phone on another from a gazillion feet up, gives him a nasty head wound that might very well be the cause of his imminent demise, and then starts _laughing about it_? But Noya can’t stop himself. It’s just so… So _ridiculous_.

“W-What?” Noya wheezes out between bouts. “Were you expecting… a phone to fall from the sky… and you s-sat there anyway?”

Somehow, the guy’s face seems to go red despite how much blood he’s lost, the hue even more prominent when compared to the streaks of crimson still dripping down his face. “N-No, but I-”

“Then it’s not your fault,” Noya scolds, though it comes out a bit less stern than intended considering the giggles still lingering beneath the words. “It’s mine. And I’m really, really-”

“It’s not-”

“Really, _really_ sorry,” Noya presses on. “Let me take you to the clinic.”

If it’s possible, the guy goes even redder, waving his hands a bit shakily in front of him. “You don’t have to go to all that trouble. I’ll be fine.”

“You might need stitches. Or a blood transfusion,” Noya argues, already grabbing onto his arm in attempts to haul him bodily off the chair. He’ll drag the guy there if he has to, though he may need some help. Noya looks up at the balcony. “Ryuu! Get your ass down here and help me get this guy to the clinic!”

“It’s really not that bad, I think,” the guy mumbles, but allows Noya to pull him to his feet. Noya can’t help but stare for a second. This guy is _huge_. All muscle and height and it should really make Noya jealous, but instead, all he can bring himself to do is admire. As if sensing Noya’s eyes on him, the guy looks down, capturing his gaze, his face burning brighter and eyes widening a fraction before he looks away again.

Ryuu’s down the stairs in a second, both their bags slung over his shoulders. “Come on, big guy,” he grins, grabbing onto the student’s other arm. “Let’s get you some medical attention.”

“This is really unnecessary,” he mumbles, and he looks almost frightened now, his eyes darting about as if looking for escape. How could someone so big and intimidating-looking be so shy and panicky? It’s enough to make Noya giggle again.

“We gotta make sure Noya didn’t kill you,” Ryuu informs him, dragging him out of the library and into the light of the afternoon sun.

“N-Noya?” the guy looks down and Noya looks up, smiling big.

“Nishinoya Yuu,” he explains, pointing his thumb into the direct center of his chest. “But you can call me Noya. He’s Tanaka Ryuunosuke.”

“Everyone but this guy calls me Tanaka,” Ryuu tacks on the end, gesturing with his chin across Asahi’s chest in Noya's direction. 

“T-Tanaka and… And Noya, then.” He repeats, looking from one to the other.

“Yup,” Noya continues to grin, still latched onto one of the guy’s muscular arms. “What’s your name? I can’t just go around calling you Guy I Beamed With My Phone.”

“Asahi,” he says, surprisingly quickly. When Noya looks up, he’s looking away again, a look in his eyes that seems equally as surprised with himself. “Azumane Asahi.”

“Well then, Asahi,” Noya pats his arm, leading him up the stairs to the university’s small clinic. “Let’s go see if I’ve done any serious damage.”

 

.x.X.x.

 

“You hear that?” Noya beams, swinging his legs out one at a time beneath him. He’d taken a seat on one of the tables closest to where the nurse would be examining Asahi, receiving an annoyed look from the nurse and a smack on the back of the head from Ryuu. Though neither of them had told him to get down. Probably because he was focused so intensely on Asahi. As much as he’s tried to stay light about the whole thing, he really does feel awful for hurting the guy, not to mention worried that he’d given him a concussion or something. Luckily, however, it seems all major injuries have been narrowly avoided. “No stiches or anything!”

“A cold compress will keep the swelling down,” the nurse says, ignoring him as she hands Asahi an ice pack. He smiles a small, polite smile as he places it to his newly bandaged head, and Noya decides he wants to make Asahi smile as often as possible. It looks good on him.

Another brief scolding for “roughhousing” and the nurse sends them on their way, a small bottle of pain meds in hand. Just in case.

“Thank you,” Asahi says once their outside. When Ryuu and Noya only look at him, confused, he elaborates with, “For coming with me.”

“I feel like the fact that it’s his fault might cancel out the necessity of the thank you,” Ryuu hums, corner of his lips pulling into a teasing smirk. “But on my end at least, you’re welcome.”

Out of sheer Pavlovian response, Noya opens his mouth to argue and pauses, the reality of it sinking in. “Ryuu’s right,” Noya mumbles instead, and when Asahi looks at him in surprise, Noya’s sure his face goes a little red. “You shouldn’t be thanking me for anything. I’m the one that made the clinic necessary in the first place.”

“It was an accident,” Asahi says, face still so open and honest and forgiving, but Noya is having none of it.

“Even so!” He says, voice strong and broaching no argument. He puts his hands on his hips and stares up at Asahi with conviction. “I’m going to make it up to you. However you’d like.”

“Y-You’ve already done enough!” Asahi stammers, waving his hands between the defensively. His face has gone a little pink at the cheeks.

“I haven’t done anything yet!” Noya huffs, crossing arms and raising his chin, brow and mouth scrunched up in thought. “What could I do though? It’s gotta be something good… Oh! I know!” Practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, Noya looks up at Asahi in excitement. “You could drop your phone on _my_ head!”

Asahi actually blanches, his eyes widening in what can only be classified as fear, though Noya has no idea why. He even starts vigorously shaking his head, but when he opens his mouth to say something, no words seem willing to come out. Noya and Ryuu share a glance but say nothing. Apparently that idea is out then.

“Alright, if we’re not going eye for an eye, then what would you like me to do?”

Once the color comes back to Asahi’s face, he looks down at Noya for a long, drawn out moment, gaze nervously flitting across Noya’s face. Then, he seems to steel himself, a look of determination flashing behind his eyes.

“Go on a date… with me.”

It takes a moment for the words to process. “Huh?” Noya breathes in eloquent response. Asahi has taken to looking anywhere but at him again, not answering, so Noya looks to Ryuu for help. He looks surprised as well, though about half as much as Noya feels. A shrug is all he offers by way of assistance, however. The bastard. Noya’s on his own then. So he tries to pry for a bit of an explanation at least. “You want me,” he starts, and the words feel funny in his mouth, moderately unused. “To go out on a date. With you.”

Asahi still isn’t looking at him, but he nods in confident affirmation. Noya’s heart stutters. This is… unexpected. New and unexpected. He’s only ever liked girls before, hasn’t he? Should he say no? But the idea of going out with Asahi doesn’t sound all that bad. He’d enjoyed holding on to Asahi’s arm on the way to the clinic. Would he enjoy holding the guy’s hand too? But he’s barely been on more than a handful of dates, all of which with girls, so how’s he supposed to know what to do on a date with a guy? This is all happening a bit too abruptly for his usually racing thoughts to quiet into an answer.

Which must show on his face.

“Or you-!” Asahi shouts suddenly, making Noya jump. When Noya looks up at him, he looks like he suddenly wants to be anywhere but here. It makes something tight and uncomfortable take hold at the center of his chest. “Or you could j-just… buy me a new headband, I guess,” Asahi finishes, the words losing steam as he goes on, each one laced with a self-deprecating chuckle. “The other one is all stained now. So.” As if defeated, Asahi lets out a sigh, shoulders dropping a fraction. He looks smaller, timid. Noya decides he doesn’t like it. Not one bit. “Pretend I never said anything,” Asahi goes on with a nervous smile, and Noya can’t help but glance at Ryuu, frustrated with himself for not knowing what to say, and even more frustrated when Ryuu says nothing and Asahi continues, voice trying and failing to sound jovial, nonchalant. “I’m still out of it from the… From the head thing. I mean, my head’s still kind fuzzy, I guess. I didn’t mean it. It was stupid, so. Just forget it.” 

He turns around, already heading off in the direction of the library again. He’d left his bag there, he’d said earlier. Noya feels something very similar to panic start to bubble up behind his ribcage.

“You can leave the headband with the post office. They’ll put it in my-”

“We’re not going out on a date then?” Noya asks, loud enough to stop Asahi in his tracks, and certainly loud enough for some of the campus passerby to hear. He blushes a little at the thought, but goes on regardless. “You ask me out on a date and take it back just like that?”

Slowly, cautiously almost, Asahi turns around, eyes widened with surprise. Noya’s heart might be pounding, but he keeps his gaze steady, his voice strong.

“I was… surprised,” Noya tries, catching the sight of Ryuu stifling a laugh in his periphery. He ignores him, presses on before he loses momentum. And courage. “That doesn’t mean I was gonna say no.”

“You weren’t…” Asahi whispers, still stunned, still standing a few feet away, so Noya covers the distance.

“I’ll go out on a date with you, but on one condition.” Noya holds up a finger for emphasis. “I get to pay. There’s no way I’m going on my first date with a guy and letting him treat me like the girl.” It sounds perfectly reasonable in his head, but once the words are out, they don’t seem to have the desired effect. In fact, Asahi continues to stare at him for a long moment, utterly speechless. The moment even draws on long enough for him to wonder if what he’d said might have been insulting. He opens his mouth to apologize, just in case, but before he can, Asahi cuts him off with a choked off sound. 

Noya takes a step back, watching as Asahi bends over, one hand wrapping around his own waist, the other covering his mouth. His whole body is shaking, soft sounds escaping between his fingers. Laughing. He’s _laughing_. Even if it’s at Noya’s expense, he decides he doesn’t care. That sound is the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

Okay. So maybe he’s not _only_ into girls.

“Ow,” Asahi chokes out after a moment, still laughing. He straightens, the hand covering his mouth shifting up to lightly touch at his bandages. “Laughing hurts,” he says, but he’s still smiling. Noya opens his mouth to apologize again, but much like last time, Asahi cuts him off. This time, with the words, “You’ve got a deal. But in exchange, I’ll drive?”

“Whoa, you have a car?” Ryuu perks up at his side, but Noya elbows him in the stomach before he can start coming up with ways to manipulate the poor guy into driving them everywhere.

The concern vanishes at once, however, when Asahi shakes his head. “Motorcycle.”

“Badass,” Ryuu whispers, probably more to himself than to anyone. That _would_ earn the guy brownie points in his eyes. Noya just stands there, suddenly consumed with the image of Asahi on a motorcycle, of sitting behind him as they tear down the highway, Noya’s arms wrapped around him from behind. He’s pretty sure his heart just stopped.

How has it taken him this long to realize? Has he always been this way, or is this something new? Or maybe… Maybe it’s just Asahi? He never realized he might be queer… because he hadn’t met Asahi yet?

It sounds disgustingly romantic, even to Noya, a self-proclaimed lover of all things love. And yet.

“So is that… Alright?” Asahi’s voice snaps him out of his mental tirade. He’s probably been standing there in awkward silence for a while now. How long had he been waiting for an answer?

“Yeah, that’s-” Noya starts, but his voice cracks, which incidentally makes his face heat up. So he clears his throat and tries again, less embarrassingly this time, one can only hope. “That’s fine. Awesome even. I, um… I can’t wait.” Again, Ryuu snorts from somewhere to his right. Again, Noya aims an elbow at his stomach, even though he misses. It’s the thought that counts.

“Me either,” Asahi smiles, his shy demeanor giving way to amusement as he watches the exchange. “Tomorrow at seven sound okay?”

Noya nods, suddenly worried about what else might fall out of his mouth if he keeps talking. Thankfully, Asahi chooses that moment to start heading back to the library again, though not without glancing one last time over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Noya,” he says, and Noya feels a shiver run down his spine at the way Asahi says his name when he’s not nervous or panicking.

“F-For what?” He squeaks before he can stop himself. Asahi smiles, words tinged with the laughter from before.

“For dropping your phone on my head.”

“Anytime,” Noya replies automatically and instantly hates himself.

Thankfully, Ryuu waits until Asahi has disappeared back into the library before busting out with some laughter of his own. Noya stands there and takes it, still a bit overwhelmed by the surprising turn of events. He’s going out on a date. With a guy. A _hot_ guy. Who rides a motorcycle. Who Noya almost gave a concussion to. His equilibrium feels like it’s shifted off balance and it’s only two o’clock in the afternoon. The last hour and a half doesn’t seem real.

“So,” Ryuu says after his own burst of laughter has fizzled. Noya looks at him, wary. And rightfully so. “What are you gonna _wear_?”

“Shut up!” Noya attacks, swinging a kick at Ryuu’s shins, which he easily dodges, jumping out of the way to make kissy faces in Noya’s direction. “You’re being an asshole!” Noya shouts at him, but he doesn’t mean it. In fact, just the opposite. Noya can’t help be feel relieved, Ryuu’s response almost identical to the time he asked out a girl from his chemistry class. Not that he expected Ryuu to be weird about Asahi being a guy, but the normalcy of it is a welcome comfort.

Especially when, later on that night, Noya comes to a detrimental and catastrophic conclusion.

“Ryuu,” he gasps, looking from his closet to Tanaka with an expression akin to horror.

“I forgot to ask for his number.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will definitely have multiple chapters. I'm not sure how many, though. Probably no more than five. Thanks for embarking on this journey with me!


End file.
